Gear linkage UJ upgrade (Group N style) Classic Impreza Turbo

[The_Bronze]

Hi all,

 

Well I managed to get one of the little jobs done which I wanted to sort since I got the car late last year.

 

The gear linkage was truly dreadful on my car, almost yards of slop in neutral and every gear.

 

The usual suspect was just that, the UJ which connects the gear selector shaft to the shifter mechanism.

 

After being quoted £94 +VAT from Subaru for a standard UJ and considerably more for an aftermarket poly/nylon bushed UJ I remembered what was done for my old Rover 620ti some years ago when it was also afflicted with a floppy shifter, use a steering column UJ!

 

The ti's mod was very successful, a guy used to knock them out on the MG-Rover site for a phenomenally low fee and utilised a non PAS column UJ from a Maestro/Montego welded on top of the cut down mechanism from the ti to achieve the correct height due to the positioning of the selector shaft in relation to the original UJ.  No such issues on an Impreza though, and such a meandering preamble leads me onto today's labours.

 

After a regimented, list driven tour of a local scrapyard (F McGuinness and sons) I came away with lots of bits and bobs for the princely sum of £8, including a column UJ from a '96 Scenic and a column UJ from a '97 Peugeot Boxer van (same van made under licence by Renault, Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat etc, but totally the same vehicle.)  Make sure you take the bolts which fastened these to the vehicles as you'll need them!

 

This is the type of shared platform van you're looking for should you want to try using a steering column UJ idea:

 

 

 

So, the two UJs:

 

 

Longer of the two is the Boxer van UJ, and the attached end of the UJ is perfect out of the box for the mechanism lever arm.  I'll be using the Boxer item for my UJ mod as it's longer.  Nothing to stop someone using the Scenic item but welding and fabrication will be required of the shifter mechanism as it's far shorter.

 

I bought a fresher lower mileage mechanism from an Impreza Sport Wagon (has the forked end rather than the welded on 'cotton reel' as per my car's original linkage, I thought they'd all be the same on the classics, who knew!

 

New Mech:

 

New mech cut to receive Boxer UJ:

 

You may have noticed a small spur of metal sticking out of one end of the Boxer item (opposite end to the end attached to the shifter mechanism) take a grinder to it, you won't need it! on the inner edges where the selector rod will fit you will also need to slightly relieve the gap to allow the rod to fit in (file, rotary file, dremel, angle grinder, choose your weapon.)

 

 

Just remove a small amount of material at a time and check it, you want a nice tight snug fit. Alternatively, if you have a vice (I don't, sob) you could open up the gap a little until it fits the selector rod snugly.

 

Next, get hold of the car's discarded original UJ and remove the portion which has the centring spring locator on it and if you like, whack some paint on it (only applicable to cars which use the spring, I don't think the New age does so disregard this step):

 

And you may aswell give the UJ a spray prior to fitting:

 

When you cut the original mech you'll find it's a tube and not a bar, and it'd probably be ok to leave open but that bothers me, so either plug with some silicone sealant, or do what I did and utilise one of the small plastic sealing caps from your recently replaced fuel filter!:

 

 

This was actually a perfect fit, I just sealed it using a little adhesive.  You can also see the end of the UJ is now attached to the shifter mech and tightened, optimal position is with the other open end of the UJ parallel to the ground.

 

Now the fun bit, fitting.

 

refit the mech to the car (I found removing and refitting was easiest via the aperture in the transmission tunnel, I didn't attempt from below as it looks like it'd be hard work), and returning the selector rod to neutral position fit the other end of the UJ over it, ideally when you look up you want the hole in the selector to be the same depth as the pinch bolt hole in the UJ.

 

Using a rotary file/router/dremel, enlarge the retaining pin hole in the spring retaining section you removed from the old UJ until the shouldered bolt from the Boxer will pass through it, the bolt also has a section just below the head which acts as a captive fastener.  Make sure the cranked section of the spring retainer is facing OUTWARDS to allow full movement of the spring retainer section when fettling later on.

 

Now it's a fair bit of trial and error, but the Boxer UJ is perfect length wise and allows the shifter to sit on the gate pretty much where it did from the factory.  You will need to rotate the UJ on the shaft by pushing and pulling the gearstick side to side and back and forth until centralised, then rotate the spring retaining plate with the spring in place as far towards the back of the car as you can without the spring binding against the UK.

 

Hook the tie bar retaining plate into the spring and fit it to the captive bolt on the bracket as per the factory install. even though this plate can only go one way it does allow for a small amount of movement which can be used to LIGHTLY tension the central position return spring.

 

You will need to !Removed! around for probably at least a good 20 minutes like I did, making sure the spring retaining plate isn't fouling the tie bar and also that the spring isn't over or under tensioned, both will be detrimental to the shift.

 

If you've got it largely right like me, welcome to a rifle-bolt perfect shifter pattern!

 

Pictures of the finished install:

 

 

 

 

This is very much a beta install and is still a work in progress.

 

The only slight issue is a small amount of notchiness coming from 5th to 4th, though selection back and forth between all other ratios is spot on.  I assume it's a little more fettling required, I gave up as I was literally soaked to the skin on account of our lovely British weather and had been soaked for about 2 hours!

 

There is a little gearbox noise transmitted through the UJ now (all metal on metal needle roller bearings internally, remember) but this was test driving with the whole centre console and boot assembly removed.  Just simply holding the gearstick was enough to damp some of the noise out.  

 

With that in mind, some form of rubber damping rings attached tightly to the lower section of the gear lever would surely help damp noises down, and also some thin rubber insulation material I have may help if tightly zip-tied on to the shifter shaft.  The ti also had this 'issue' but it's to be expected and it didn't bother me greatly.

 

Also, the design of the UJ at the selector end: I chose to use the near full radius at the other end on account of satisfactorily clamping a hollow tube, but the open end on the gear selector bothers me.

 

One of two avenues to pursue is to either drill through the top of the UJ and run a bolt through the original roll pin hole, or a little more difficult but more pleasing option would be to machine a chunk of nylon/steel/alloy to fit in the large lower gap, this insert would accommodate the pinch bolt and also provide a lower semi-circle shaped area to accommodate the lower section of the selector rod.

 

Like I said though, the bolt through the UJ is a lot easier, and you could even slot the hole to allow a degree of rotational adjustment.

 

 

As a side note, a revised version of this modification should suit a wide range of Subaru models.

 

 

There's likely tons of stuff I've missed out so comments and queries welcome!

 

I also had the idea of using a Renault Clio steering UJ centre knuckle to replace the worn centre bushing, I thought my car would have the fork type assembly at both the selector end and the the mechanism end as per the new age cars, they don't!  

 

I do have a brand new Clio Sport alloy knuckle if anyone wants to try it out on their new age, and also some nylon spacers to go with it. I also still have the spare Scenic knuckle I didn't use, they're available to the first inboxer as long as they just cover postage!

 

This is the alloy knuckle from the Clio, looks like it'd replace the centre section of the new age UJ nicely:

 

 

Features high density rubber bushings with a steel insert at both ends.

 

 

While all the centre console stuff was out I gave it a wash with some autoglym car shampoo, all the nasty detritus which settles between console sections (13+ years worth!) is now gone and the plastics look great!  The shifter boot was the later cheaper faux leather type affair and it was knackered and looked like it was going bald in places (just like me) so I binned that off in favour of an earlier type rubber shifter boot, much nicer as far as I'm concerned (even if my mate said it looks like something out of a Toyota Carina II taxi, cheeky sod).  Not a straight fit but took me like 5 minutes to convincingly adapt it to the face lift centre console, pictures also to follow!

 

Tomorrow's work is fit the power folding mirrors as all the (totally **** easy!) wiring is done, and also fit the 40G Blueprint front discs and Pagid pads!

 

 

[Gambit]

One of the most useful and well written posts I've read on here. Thanks for sharing :) 

[Jay762]

Great read very useful - saving £90 plus in the process, appreciate you taking the time to do this :)

[BlackBosh]

Like it, some proper old school modification/repairs

[The_Bronze]

Thanks chaps!  was a pleasure to!

 

If anyone wants a crack at this and wants a little direction that's fine by me :)

 

I also used some carefully placed pieces of that that silver insulation stuff inside the shifter area and also zip tied some onto the gear selector shaft upper and lower bits, virtually no gearbox noise in the cabin, happy as larry!

 

Discs and pads also fitted, noisy at times, quite a lot of dust too, but to say they stop well is a mild understatement!

 

Nightmare on the mirror front, full story to follow on another thread!

[BlackBosh]

What sort of noise does come through the gearbox then as I don't really care for noises in mine. I know you said there wasn't much but what type of sound is it exactly?

[The_Bronze]

Blackbosh,

 

With the mechanism uncovered (centre console removed) and with no matting attached the transmission noise was quite pronounced but not too intrusive.

 

But with the silver backed fibre matting I used strategically (it's only around 3mm thick! lots of alternatives would be used to, harmonic damping's the name of the game!) there is virtually no gear noise in the cabin now, at worst there's a very slight whisper or gearbox noise in the lever's forward positions but you really have to ***** your head and listen carefully to notice it at all!

 

I actually lent my camera to a friend but as soon as I have it back I'll try to take a video so as to show how quiet it is :)